The NC Mountains

After a very busy 3 weeks in Atlanta, I headed out to visit friends in the NC mountains (Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Boone and Deep Gap).  There were two distinct reasons for my trip - first some skiing and quality time with LeeAnn, Chris, Garrett and Jacob at their mountain house and second to meet Jeff and Bencita's newly adopted daughter, Bella.  I got an early start on the 5 hour drive to ensure I arrived in time for some swimming with Garrett and Jacob in the afternoon.  I had great weather for the entire drive which made the scenery of the blue ridge mountains even better than usual.  As luck would have it, there was plenty of snow in the forecast for the weekend but it didn't start until I pulled into a parking space at the Echota Resort!  Literally, it started to snow as I was walking my luggage into the house.  :)  LeeAnn had made reservations at The Gamekeeper for dinner, so we had to make a quick change into bathing suits for an afternoon swim.  I did my laps and then tossed the football with the kids for a bit in the shallow end.  We enjoyed some wine at back at the house before changing for dinner and piling into the minivan.  It was snowing really hard as we made the drive along the windy road to Blowing Rock for dinner, but it was worth it because our dinner was out of this world.  If you have plans to be in the NC mountains anytime soon, check out their menu here.

We enjoyed lots of fun and frolic in the snow, shopping, swimming and playing a new dice game called GREED throughout the weekend.  We took the kids sledding on Saturday and while it was freezing, it was awesome to see the joy on the kids faces as they whizzed down the hills.  Garrett and Jacob are getting so big, so visits like these are precious.

The sledding hill in Blowing Rock

Snow bunnies in the cold, cold NC mountains

Garrett (hiding his face), Jacob and me goofing off!

On Sunday I had plans to drive over to Deep Gap to spend the day with Jeff and Bencita who are the proud parents of a newly adopted daughter.  Jeff went to high school in Ashe County, NC with my college roommate, Rachel.  She introduced us our Freshmen year in college and we have been great friends ever since.  After a long and arduous journey, he and his wife were blessed to adopt a beautiful, healthy daughter in January.  Bella Cita Brooks turned 2 on November 1st and is thriving in her new home.  I arrived at 10:30 am and Bella welcomed me by blowing bubbles and giving me a big hug.  After she opened a gaggle of presents, I got a tour of her room, we read some books and played hide & seek.  Rachel decided to make the drive up from Winston-Salem for lunch and she arrived right before the lentil soup was ready!  

It was great to meet Bella and get caught up with Jeff and Bencita.  They shared the full story of Bella's young life and how she came to be their daughter.  Truly a miracle and seemingly how things were always meant to be.  She is so lucky to have Jeff and Bencita as parents and I look forward to seeing her grow up over the years. 

Bella and me hugging it out!

Jeff (in his coveralls) and Bencita - the proud new parents!

Jeff and Bencita's house sits in front of a large pasture where they recently built a new barn.  Bencita has owned a horse, Shine, for many  years and they hope to move the horse to their barn (from a barn down the road) in the coming year.  They showed us photos of Bella's first meeting and ride on Shine and it's clear that she fits into their family perfectly from the smile she had on her face.  

Rachel had to head back to Winston-Salem and I had to head back to meet up with LeeAnn and Chris so we both hit the road around 2:30 while Bella was napping.  I think I convinced Jeff and Bencita to make a trip to Atlanta in the Spring so we can take Bella to the aquarium and a Braves game.  Fingers crossed.

After another afternoon swim at the indoor pool, we headed back to Blowing Rock for dinner at Bistro Roca.  I had a Brussels Sprouts salad that is one of the best salads I've ever had.  Check it out here.  Another solid place to recommend if you are in the area.

We played some cards, watched TV and called it a night on Sunday since we all had long drives ahead of us on Monday.  It was so an awesome extended weekend...

Off to Playa del Carmen, Mexico this weekend for a week and will post more on that soon.